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The problem Jira solves is giving a useless, parasitic class of managers visibility and control of what teams of developers do, because the managers cannot and will not learn what the developers actually do. This is done even at the expense of the productivity of the developers.

Of course, there are good managers of developers. But they neither use nor need Jira.

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I think that's exactly it. Many in-house tools are designed not for the users but for the people with power and budgetary authority.

As an aside, I think that's why Agile and Lean methods have been mostly adopted in name only, leaving the substance untouched. The goal of both movements was to shift power to people doing the work, and managers see that as a reduction in importance.

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